Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 372)
recommended to Yulia by:
Bibliomantic
Hmm, these stories are so unlike what I'm used to expecting shorts to be like. They're like folklore or legends. It's quite impressive to think a once-living man could have created such timeless stories. Don't such narratives take centuries to shape, passed from one generation to the next by old women making yarn or silk thread?
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I'm not sure whether to be amused or annoyed that Murakami gives Akutagawa such grudging praise in h...more
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I'm not sure whether to be amused or annoyed that Murakami gives Akutagawa such grudging praise in h...more
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8 comments
Read in January, 2007
I've gone through a number of these stories now and enjoyed each one tremendously; he comes across to me a lot like the proto-absurd, tragicomic Japanese Gogol (but maybe it's Akutagawa's own "Nose" that makes me think so). I didn't get to all of the stories in this edition but hope to dip back into it in the future.
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Read in August, 2008
Perfectly translated new edition of famous classical stories as "Rashomon," "In a Bamboo grove," "The Nose," "Dragon," "Hell Screen" and "The Spider's Thread." Akutagawa used to be only available in somewhat antiquated translations, so this new translation is very welcome. Besides historical fiction, also several modern stories have been included. "The Story of a Head that Fell Off" is the perfect anti-war tale; and "Hors...more
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Read in June, 2008
Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Rashomon and 17 Other Stories (Penguin, 2006)
I'll admit I picked this up less because it was Akutagawa than the bit that said “illustrated by Yoshihiro Tatsumi”, who's been one of the best in the business for over thirty years. When I actually got it, I found out Tatsumi was only responsible for the cover, but I went ahead and read it anyway. Eighteen of Akutagawa's stories, including “Rashomon” and “In a Grove” (the two stories that, in combination, Kurosawa...more
I'll admit I picked this up less because it was Akutagawa than the bit that said “illustrated by Yoshihiro Tatsumi”, who's been one of the best in the business for over thirty years. When I actually got it, I found out Tatsumi was only responsible for the cover, but I went ahead and read it anyway. Eighteen of Akutagawa's stories, including “Rashomon” and “In a Grove” (the two stories that, in combination, Kurosawa...more
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Read in December, 2007
Good, but...
Yes. I did it. I've committed one of the ultimate literary sacrileges of all time. I read Akutagawa Ryunosuke in translation when I could have read it in original Japanese. I am guilty as charged; there is no question about it. I just couldn't resist a book with such a cool cover and Murakami's introduction plus his trusted Jay Rubin doing the translation. I just had to buy it.
Having said that, I did read it along with the actual Japanese text in front of me to see h...more
Yes. I did it. I've committed one of the ultimate literary sacrileges of all time. I read Akutagawa Ryunosuke in translation when I could have read it in original Japanese. I am guilty as charged; there is no question about it. I just couldn't resist a book with such a cool cover and Murakami's introduction plus his trusted Jay Rubin doing the translation. I just had to buy it.
Having said that, I did read it along with the actual Japanese text in front of me to see h...more
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Read in June, 2008
There is more than a little bit of Gogol's ideas here, as Akutagawa admits in his own madman's diary, The Life of a Stupid Man. Yet for all the personal tragedy noted in his chronology and appearing throughout his works, there is still two qualities that make his works admired by many: professionalism and playfulness. He reads greatly about other cultures, and retells the this wide range as Japanese stories. And he always seems to be writing, too. Especially during the darkest times in his l...more
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Read in January, 2007
I liked it enough to keep reading every night after I should have gone to sleep, cutting into my precious sleeping hours. The story Rashomon is haunting, and the backdrop of the samurai period gone to seed is creepy and unlike anything I'd previously thought about Japan. We just saw Memoirs of a Geisha, I know, not even slightly realistic and so poorly written, oy veh! That world is so picture perfect so story book, and yet I now realize that it is very much the image of early 20th century of Ja...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
my daimyo, people who pull the hair out of corpses to make wigs.
Pretty short collection of ancient Japanese fiction. Rashomon is great story about evil begetting evil, and some of the other stories herein I had never heard of, but enjoyed reading. The styles of some of these older Japanese stories are really disjointed; they seem to break off very quickly after the climax. The stories are mostly tragic, but after something horrible happens they end abruptly before any parable or moral lesson can be conveyed. This has much to do with the world view prevalent ...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
kurosawa fans, japanophiles, suicidal writers
if you watched and enjoyed kurosawa's Rashomon, it's worth reading this translation of the story it's based on (which, incidentally, is named "In a Budding Grove" - "Rashomon" is something else). i don't know how heartily i can recommend the book overall, though. the middle stories that focused on honor and death in japanese society were interesting culturally, but dragged a bit. i was actually not looking forward to picking this book up again after about a year's hiat...more
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Read in November, 2008
I don't know why it took me so long to discover this guy! I don't even know whom to compare him to... maybe a Japanese Borges or a Japanese Italo Calvino mixed in with a little Poe? I wasn't wild about his later stories, which seem to lack the careful discipline of the earlier ones but are nonetheless poetic and enjoyable.
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Read in October, 2007
Akutagawa is a master storyteller, and this collection clearly demonstrates that, while also showing the breadth of his career. There is a dark sense of humor in the early stories and it is very interesting to watch it grow darker, and eventually turn upon itself. The two posthumous stories are heartrending, and it is upsetting to realize that one is essentially reading fictional suicide notes. At the same time, his command of image and narrative is stunning, and his relationship with fin de sie...more
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A gift from my lovely boyfriend. The stories in this book are an entertaining read, especially if you're into Japanese literature.
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Dari 7 cerita nya saya paling terkesan dengan cerita yang berjudul Bubur Ubi. Cerita ini berhasil membawa saya masuk dalam suasana yang ciptakan oleh pengarang seolah-olah tokoh yang malang itu adalah bapak ku. Akhir cerita tidak terduga, kocak tapi getir itulah ciri khas Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
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Read in March, 2007
Along with the titular "Rashomon," this collection features Akutagawa's most famous short story, "In a Grove" (titled "In a Bamboo Grove" in this collection; the actual basis of the film Rashomon). In addition to those two best-known stories, "Hell Screen" and "The Story of a Head That Fell Off" are my personal favorites by this author.
It's funny that "Rashomon" is almost always included in the title of any Akutagawa collecti...more
It's funny that "Rashomon" is almost always included in the title of any Akutagawa collecti...more
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This book includes the most famous story: "In a Grove" (some are titled "In a Bamboo Grove). "In a Grove" is the story about a murder in which all the witnesses witnessed differently. Therefore, it was very difficult to judge who the murderer was.
It seems one character in this story lied for some purpose (maybe hiding the identity of the murderer).
If you can find who the murderer was, I have to admit that you are the best detective in the world XD
It seems one character in this story lied for some purpose (maybe hiding the identity of the murderer).
If you can find who the murderer was, I have to admit that you are the best detective in the world XD
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"Hell Screen" was really the only story that stayed with me for any real amount of time. Others were good, especially "Dragon: The Old Potter's Tale" & "Life of a Stupid Man", and Akutagawa's sparse prose hits like a sledgehammer, often shockingly funny and penetrating. Unfortunately a hammer is not always the best tool and many of the others left me unmoved. Good, but not spectacular.
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never read the english versions. i don't even know if this specific version has all the one's that i read, but i would imagine there are quite a few. (i wish they would list all the titles of the stories, in both english and japanese. but, oh well) my favorite akutagawa story is "hokyo-nin no shi" (or, "death of a martyr"), which i don't know whether or not it is in this version.
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